


Finding Home

by LoveableLibra



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien is a c o w a r d, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Marinette Gets Better Friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21688309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveableLibra/pseuds/LoveableLibra
Summary: Lila had ruined Marinette’s life.It started off slowly, but one by one, she had managed to turn everyone in Mlle. Bustier’s class against Marinette. Even her own best friend refused to believe a word she said, rendering her completely alone, just as Lila had intended from the start. But when the hatred from her peers became too much, Marinette found herself somewhere she never could’ve imagined a few months prior: standing in front of her new class at Collège Abri Sûr.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Félix
Comments: 11
Kudos: 282





	1. Prologue

_“If you don’t want to be my friend, fine, but soon you won’t have any friends left at all.”_

At the time, Marinette didn’t believe Lila. She had no reason to buy any of the words that spilled out of the liar’s mouth, because she knew it was all an act. That’s what Lila did, she told people what they wanted to hear, or when it came to Marinette, what she most feared, to manipulate them any way she wanted. However, even then her promise still sounded far-fetched to Marinette’s ears; her friends were loyal, they’ve known her for years; there’s no way they would trust Lila’s word against her own.

At least, that’s what she thought. 

But soon enough, her world came crashing down around her. At first, Lila’s accusations were small: insisting Marinette took her favorite pen, asking Marinette in front of the whole class to stop glaring at her, telling Mlle. Bustier that Marinette was saying harsh things to her about their seating arrangements. But soon, they became so much more. She would plant her belongings in Marinette's backpack, claiming that she had stolen them, taking Marinette’s assignments from her bag and copying them while doing so. And of course, when confronted with Lila’s pitiful crocodile tears, Mlle. Bustier hadn’t had the heart to question the other girl about any of it, just punishing Marinette instead. Steadily, the amount of detentions under Marinette’s belt began to grow, as did the disrespect of her peers. 

Alya became more and more distant as each day passed, clinging to Lila like a lifeline. For every plan Alya canceled with Marinette, Lila was right there to take her place, promising new stories of her and Ladybug as well as connections that could help the LadyBlog’s popularity soar. Every ounce of Marinette’s being wanted to say something to save Alya from all the lies and misinformation she was filling her prized blog with, but whenever she tried to speak up, Lila’s promise in the bathroom rang loud and clear. She could spin a situation any way she wanted, and soon, Marinette would have no friends left at all. Maybe Adrien was right, staying quiet was the best thing she could do.

So that’s exactly what she did. She stopped trying to fight back, stopped trying to defend herself, but that only made Lila’s work easier. The class bought every story with ease when they caught Marinette’s apathetic expression, showing no remorse or resistance. They took her giving up as admittance to bullying Lila, and had no problem telling her exactly why she was a horrible person. She tried not to let it get to her, but Alya was the last straw.

The day started out normal enough. When Marinette got into class she went straight to her seat at the back like always, showing up early to avoid the glares she’d receive if the room was full, setting her stuff out neatly on her desk as soon as she sat down. After that, she waited, head perched on her hand as she zoned out on something in the distance. She had been doing a lot of that these days.

Chloé was the first to arrive after her, meeting Marinette’s eyes with an almost sympathetic expression before sitting down with Sabrina. Ever since Lila had taken control of the class, Chloé softened, if only slightly, and had stopped victimizing Marinette. Once, she had even stopped by Marinette's locker, showing her support in her own, backhanded, way. But compared to the radio silence she received from everyone else, Chloé’s understanding felt like a blessing. 

Soon enough, the rest of the class filed in one-by-one, prompting Marinette to shift her gaze to a spot on her table to ignore the stares of each student walking in. However, there was one she couldn’t ignore, as the girl waltzed right up to Marinette’s desk, tapping the surface with one of her sharp, perfectly manicured nails. 

“Earth to Marinette. Don’t play dumb and space out like that, I know you can hear me,” she said, her voice low so that no one else could hear the harshness of her tone. 

Marinette turned to her slowly, slumping back in her seat with resignation, “What do you want, Lila?”

“I’m just here for a little chat. Gosh, you don’t have to be so mean to me!” Lila said, loud enough so the whole room could her words. A few of her former friends muttered to each other in disapproval, causing a smirk to tug at the corners of Lila’s lips. Her voice lowered once again, leaning closer to Marinette, “So how are things back here in the last row… all alone?”

Marinette felt her chest tighten as she took a deep breath, “Can you please just leave me alone?”

“Alright,” Lila said with a shrug, to Marinette’s surprise, and turned to walk back to her desk. Before she could take her first step, however, she fell forward down one of the shallow stairs, using her hands to cushion her fall as she hit the ground. Letting out a groan of pain and turning onto her side, she cradled one of her wrists near her heart, “Ow! Marinette, I can’t believe you would trip me! I think I sprained my wrist!”

Marinette shot up from her seat, eyes wide, “What!? I-I didn’t-you-!”

Before she could get a full sentence out a sharp impact hit her cheek, causing her to recoil backwards with stinging eyes. Standing in front of her was Alya, the girls features contorted into an expression of pure fury as she raised her hand back up like she was going to strike again, however, she lowered it a moment later.

“What is wrong with you!?” Alya yelled, taking a step closer to Marinette, “You know what? I’m done trying to be nice and pretend there’s still some good left in you, because there isn’t. Lila has been nothing but sweet to you since she’s come back to this school, and you’ve become a bully just because you’re a little jealous. I can’t believe you! What happened to the sweet girl from a few months ago? Our everyday Ladybug?” She scoffed. “Now you’re even worse than Chloé. I hope you’re happy.”

With that, Alya helped Lila up, leading her out of the classroom to the nurses office, not sparing Marinette a second glance. The room fell completely silent, and it was then that she realized she was crying, feeling a teardrop fall from her cheek and hit her trembling hand, more following right after. She expected everyone else to turn on her, but never did she think Alya would be one of them. They were supposed to be best friends, weren’t they?

Wiping off her face with the back of her jacket, Marinette sat back down in her seat and put her head down in her arms, not caring anymore that all eyes were on her.


	2. Allegra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is kinda short in my book, but the later ones are for sure going to be longer! I'm kind of notorious for having long chapters, if you've checked out any of my other works, so just know that this is just kind of an outlier. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!!

“Honey! We’re leaving in five minutes!”

Marinette’s room was a mess. Fabric scraps and pattern paper covered almost every inch of her floor, and empty plates and bowls from the past week were stacked on top of her desk, so cluttered it almost got in the way of her work. The girl in question didn’t notice the mess, however. Lifting her head from where it was hunched down over her sewing machine, she turned her attention towards the only clean spot on the ground around her trap door, yelling back to her mom, “Okay maman, I’m putting on my shoes now!”

Finishing up her line of stitching, Marinette snipped off her loose threads and set the semi-finished garment to the side, running over to the other corner of the room to grab her favorite flats, which were covered by a scrap of lilac fabric. She reached down to grab it, but a sharp pain that stabbed through her finger caused her to quickly recoil, sucking in the air through her teeth. Of course, she had forgotten to take out one of her pins when she threw the scrap to the side. With a roll of her eyes, she quickly bandaged it up, hoping that the wound wasn’t an omen for how the rest of the day was going to turn out.

Pulling on her shoes, she quickly threw on her winter coat before taking off down the stairs, Tikki slipping into her purse as she did so. When she reached the bottom, waiting for her in the living room was her parents, Sabine flashing her a warm smile as she stood from the couch, “It’s good to finally see you out of your room, Marinette.”

“Come on, I don’t spend _that_ much time in there. I eat lunch with you guys,” Marinette argued, but it was half-hearted at most. She knew that since Christmas break started, her sole focus was thrown into her designs in an attempt to distract herself, and for the most part, it worked. But that didn’t mean her parent’s concern was any less valid. Usually over breaks like this, their house would be filled with friends of Marinette’s, however, now her room was unnaturally silent. 

Tom gently patted Marinette’s back, wearing the same sympathetic expression as her mother while he spoke, “Let’s go, the car’s been warming up for a while,”

The drive was mostly quiet, with nothing but the car radio playing holiday music to fill the silence. After their exchange in the living room, Marinette’s parents hadn’t mentioned anything else about her newfound isolation, much to her appreciation. Although they weren’t aware of the exact details behind it, Tom and Sabine knew something had happened at Françoise Dupont. It wasn’t like their daughter to be so quiet and distant like she had been for the past few months.

Marinette was leaned up against the car door, watching the scenery pass by through the window with a blank expression. The walking distance from her house to their destination wasn’t too far, she thought, trying her best to memorize the route at every turn. Of course it would still be a pretty big change for her, considering that what she now knew to be her old school was just across the street from the bakery, but it was a change she was willing to make.

Soon enough, her father pulled into the vacant parking lot of a large building that seemed to tower over her menacingly. It must have been several stories taller than Françoise Dupont, and almost twice as wide, but that was to be expected of one of the most prided schools in France. Still, even though she knew this from research she had done beforehand, when Marinette exited the car her legs felt weak from under her. Ever since she was in école she had gone to school with the same people, she knew what to expect. But now, she had no idea. 

With her parents by her side, the three of them entered the building, pushing open the grand double doors to be met with a large corridor, the high ceilings making Marinette feel even smaller than she did before. But what was even more intimidating was the older woman waiting for them in the middle of the entrance hall, the blouse and skirt she wore as neat and pristine as the bun that held her salt and pepper hair at the base of her neck. It was a stark contrast to the young girl by her side who seemed to be around Marinette's age, who’s light curly hair could barely be contained by the messy braid that ran down her back.

“You must be the Dupain-Cheng’s,” the older woman said, walking forward to meet with them. The tone of her voice was a lot more gentle than Marinette expected, as was the warm smile that graced her features, “Welcome to Collège Abri Sûr. Thank you so much for meeting us here during the break, I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

Her father was the first to speak, holding out his hand to shake hers, “Of course, it wasn’t a problem at all. Anything for our Marinette.”

“You must be the headmaster?” Sabine asked, shaking her hand as well.

The older woman nodded, “I’m Mme. Beauchene, and this-” she motioned towards the younger girl before turning her attention towards Marinette, “-is Allegra Laurent. She’s your class representative, and since your homeroom teacher wasn’t able to make it today, she’ll be the one showing you around.”

Allegra gave her a wave, which Marinette returned. If she was being honest, the whole situation felt a little awkward, like they two were children being forced on a play date together, and she could tell from the girls expression Allegra felt the same. Thankfully, when they were dismissed so Marinette could be shown around the school, the atmosphere became much more relaxed. Allegra turned to her with a grin as they started off towards what Marinette could only assume was their shared classroom, “Thank God. The headmaster is nice and all, but she scares the crap out of me; she reminds me of my old ballet teacher.”

“She looks really intimidating, more intimidating than my old principal,” Marinette agreed, picturing the two side-by-side. Yeah, Mme. Beauchene seemed to be much more strict than “The Owl”. Letting out a slight chuckle at the thought, Marinette continued, “He used to pretend to be a superhero like Ladybug and Chat Noir, they actually had to save him when he was akumatized.”

Allegra stopped in her tracks, looking to Marinette with wide eyes, “Woah! He got akumatized!? I don’t think that’s ever happened to anyone here.”

“Really!? Almost everyone in my old class has been at least once,” Marinette said. 

“That’s crazy! Is that why you’re transferring here?”

Marinette paused for a second, feeling her chest tighten up at the question. She really didn’t want to think about the real reason behind why she was leaving Françoise Dupont, so instead she gave a small nod, “Kind of. My parents just thought I’d be happier here.”

“Well, I don’t know about that. I think it’s a little hard to be happy at _school_ , of all places,” Allegra joked, earning a laugh from Marinette, “But I think Abri Sûr is pretty cool. Because it’s so big, we have a lot of space for different clubs and stuff that you could join. I personally believe orchestra is the best out of all of them, but I’m a little biased considering I’m a first chair flutist.”

Marinette shook her head, “Oh no, you would not want me in the orchestra. Last time I tried to play an instrument my neighbors thought someone was torturing a cat.”

“Ah, the deafening squeals of a clueless beginner. Trust me, I’m well acquainted with what that sounds like,” she said with a wink, stopping in her tracks a moment later, “Oh, and here we are. Thankfully, since we’re upperclassmen our homeroom is on the first floor, so we don’t have to go up any of those god-awful stairs. Now come on, let me show you where you sit!”

Leaving no time to spare, Allegra pulled open the door to their shared classroom and lead the way inside. To Marinette’s surprise, it wasn’t much different than those at Françoise Dupont, with each desk seating two students. The main difference was the size of the classroom, slightly larger than what she was used to with three rows of desks instead of the usual two. But it made sense; more students meant more room. 

From beside her, Marinette watched as Allegra pulled a sheet of paper out of the bag slung around her shoulder, studying it for a minute as she started to speak, “Okay Marinette, your seat is… Oh boy. You’re next to Félix.”

“Who’s Félix?” Marinette asked, following the other girl up a few steps before they reached a desk by the window. 

“My very good friend, and our resident ice queen. He’s harmless when you get to know him, but a lot of people think he’s a jerk because of how cold and blunt he is. You’ll be fine though,” she explained, “I’ve known him since we were little, as long as you respect his boundaries, he’ll like you, even if he claims not to.”

Marinette nodded once again, feeling like she's been doing a lot of that today, “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. So which one is my seat?”

“Oh, right. You’re the one next to the aisle here, right behind me, actually! This is perfect, you can just tap on my shoulder if you ever need help with anything or just want to talk. I just came here two years ago, so I know transferring can be difficult, especially in the middle of the semester like this, so if you ever need anything at all, I’m here. Hell, if you asked me to help you hide a body, I’d probably show up with a shovel,” Allegra offered.

Marinette couldn’t help but smile. Allegra seemed really nice, from offering her help to not prodding Marinette about the sudden school change. In a way, the girl reminded her of herself, a bubbly and caring class rep who just wanted the best for those around her. At least, that was how she used to be. Maybe Allegra could help her find that part of herself again. 

Or maybe she would leave her, just like Alya did.

Marinette tried to clear her mind of her former best friend, turning her attention back towards Allegra, who was waiting for her response, “Well, I don’t have any bodies to hide just yet, but I would like to see the rest of the school.”

“Of course, I almost forgot about that. Allow me to lead the way! The next stop on our tour: the science lab!”

* * *

The rest of their tour went on without a hitch, the two girls getting along much better than either had imagined. Allegra was very talkative, which made Marinette let her guard down for what felt like the first time in months, and soon enough they were sharing stories and cracking jokes left and right, laughing so hard they teared up. But it seemed like as quickly as the tour started, it had ended, Marinette meeting her parents back at the front of the school with a genuine grin and flushed cheeks. 

By the time they got back home, Marinette was mentally exhausted. After taking off her coat she collapsed onto her bed, letting out a sigh as Tikki flew to sit beside her head, “I’m sure you’ll have a good time at this new school! That Allegra girl was really nice, wasn’t she, Marinette?”

“Yeah, she really was,” the girl in question said half-heartedly, rolling onto her side to face Tikki, “I don’t know, I guess I’m just really nervous about all of this. What if we become friends and she leaves me just like Alya did? I don’t think I’d be able to handle it if that happened again.”

“It won’t happen again. Lila isn’t going to be there to try and influence anyone, and I doubt she’s still going to try and hurt you now that you’re not in the same school as her anymore. You have to lighten up, Marinette!” Tikki reasoned.

Her argument was logical, but the anxiety that overwhelmed Marinette didn’t want to stop, leading her down a spiral, “What if I don’t make any friends at all?”

“That’s impossible. You’re the smartest, nicest, most likable person I know! Actually, can I tell you a secret?” Tikki asked, flying closer to nuzzle her cheek on Marinette’s. After a second, she nuzzled back, prompting the Kwami to continue, “You’re my favorite Ladybug.”

“What!? No way, you’re just saying that-”

“I’m not! You’re by far the most selfless holder I’ve had, and even now you’re being modest. Sure, you mess up sometimes, but that’s only human. What’s most important is that you put your care for others first; I’ve had Ladybug’s in the past that appeared to be selfless, but only wanted the spotlight. But that’s not you, that was never you, and people are bound to see that.”

Marinette could feel herself tearing up at the sincerity behind everything Tikki said. If she hadn’t been by her side through it all, Marinette had no idea where she would’ve been now, but that wasn’t anything she wanted to think about for too long. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she sat upright, “Thank you, Tikki. It’s getting late, isn’t it? Let’s go to bed.”

“Okay, I’ll turn of the light,” Tikki said, taking off towards the other corner of the room before stopping in her tracks, “Oh, Marinette?”

“Yeah?”

“Clean your room tomorrow.”

“...Okay.”


End file.
